1997-06-10 -- Gathering, delivering, conspiracy of defense info
Gathering, delivering, conspiring of defense info-espionage
United States Attorney Charles R. Wilson, together with
Albert Robinson, Special Agent In Charge of the Tampa Field
Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, John L.
Martin, Chief, Internal Security Section of the Department of
Justice, and the United States Army Intelligence and Security
Command, announced today the unsealing of a federal indictment
in Tampa, Florida, charging KELLY THERESE WARREN, formerly
known as KELLY THERESE CHURCH, formerly known as KELLY THERESE
NAUGHTON, a former member of the United States Army, with
espionage.
Warren, 31, of Warner-Robbins, Georgia was arrested in
Georgia today by special agents of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.
Warren served at the United States Army's 8th Infantry
Division headquarters in Bad Kreuznach, Federal Republic of
Germany, from 1986 until 1988. She was assigned to the G-3
Section where her duties consisted of administrative, clerical
assistance and preparing classified documents for publication
and distribution. The G-3 Section's mission was to create,
devise, process, and coordinate the plans, training, and
operations of the 8th Infantry Division whose mission was to
participate in the coordinated defense of Western Europe in
the event of an attack from the former Warsaw Pact countries.
Warren was named in a three-count indictment which
charges her in Count One with conspiracy to gather or deliver
defense information to aid a foreign government, and in Counts
Two and Three with the substantive crimes of gathering or
delivering defense information to aid a foreign government
with respect to her activities regarding two specific
classified documents.
Ms. Warren is the fourth person to be charged in the
Middle District of Florida for conspiring to commit espionage
with Clyde Lee Conrad as a result of a joint FBI and United
States Army Intelligence and Security Command investigation
which has been ongoing for over ten years. Roderick James
Ramsay was arrested in 1990 in Tampa for espionage, and after
he pled guilty he was sentenced on August 28, 1992, to thirty-
six years in prison by the Honorable Wm. Terrell Hodges.
Subsequently, Jeffrey Rondeau and Jeffrey Gregory were
arrested, and after they pled to espionage they were each
sentenced on June 24, 1994, to eighteen years in prison by the
Honorable Ralph W. Nimmons, Jr. Ms. Warren's case has been
assigned to the Honorable Elizabeth A. Kovachevich, Chief
Judge, Middle District of Florida.
Clyde Lee Conrad served on active duty with the United
States Army from 1965 to September 1, 1985, when he retired
with the rank of Sgt. First Class. Conrad was arrested on
August 23, 1988, by German authorities. Beginning in January
1990, Conrad was tried in the Federal Republic of Germany on
charges of high treason for espionage activities on behalf of
the Hungarian and Czechoslovakian intelligence services
between 1976 and 1988. On June 6, 1990, the Koblenz State
Appellate Court convicted Conrad, and he was sentenced to life
in prison. This was the most severe sentence handed down in
the Federal Republic of Germany for espionage since World War
II. In addition, the Court ordered the forfeiture of
approximately $1.7 million.
Specifically, indictment alleges that Warren knowingly
and willfully communicated, transmitted, and delivered
documents and information to representatives and agents of the
Peoples' Republic of Hungary and the Czechoslovak Socialist
Republic which related to the national defense of the United
States. The indictment further alleges that the 8th Infantry
Division maintained classified U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and
NATO military documents including general defense plans for
the allied defense of Central Europe, plans for the use of
tactical nuclear weapons by the United States and NATO forces
and chemical warfare documents.
If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum term of life
imprisonment. The case will be prosecuted by Assistant United
States Attorney Walter Furr, United States Attorney's Office,
Tampa and James Candelmo, Trial Attorney for the Internal
Security Section of the Department of Justice.
An indictment is merely a charge that a defendant has
committed a violation of a federal criminal law and every
defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proved
guilty.
U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida
Charles R. Wilson, United States Attorney
500 Zack Street, Fourth Floor
Tampa, Florida 33602
Main Office Number: 813-274-6000
Public Affairs Office: 813-274-6100; fax: 813-274-6200
Elizabeth Banister: Public Information Officer
[email protected]
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